SAN ANTONIO – The state budget is under fire for not doing enough for children in the foster system.
Bexar County Children’s Court Judge Peter Sakai said the current Senate finance bill in Austin doesn’t give enough to foster care children. This was said during a town hall meeting headed by State Sen. Carlos Uresti.
Much of the increases in the $2 billion budget for the Department of Family and Protective Services went to hiring 75 additional workers, and more than $2.5 million went to increasing salaries. Prevention services took a $67,000 hit.
“If we're cutting the safety net and we’re cutting the programs that help support children and families, then either we’re putting more children in our foster care system that we've been court ordered to fix, so this is a pay me now, pay me later situation,” Sakai said.
“I'm optimistic that we are going to put more money into our foster care system. The bill that we passed yesterday (Wednesday), out of finance, raises the foster care rates, one, two, what we are looking to do is to get more money into kinship care, Uresti said. "When grandmother's taking care of these kids and just needs a little bit of help, we can give her a stipend to help raise those kids."
Uresti said the bill is still in its early stages and could see changes.
A federal lawsuit currently questions the constitutionality of CPS funding in Texas. The Senate bill goes to the floor on Tuesday.
Bexar County had 4,500 confirmed cases of child abuse last year.
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